This invention relates to network telephone systems and more particularly to telephone number portability within network telephone systems and the assignment of telephone numbers therein.
The public telephone system is operated by entry of a series of numbers by such means as pulse dialing a rotary telephone, pressing buttons of a push button telephone to enter dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) or pulse codes, and initiating some automatic entry device such as a modem or facsimile machine or out-of-band customer premises equipment signals as in ISDN sets. Currently within United States local telephone calls require seven digits (YXX-XXXX) and long distance calls require the same seven digits plus a three digit area code at the beginning. A long distance code digit of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or some other long distance code is also added before the area code and the seven digit local number. Originally the first three digits of a local number identified the telephone switch that would process the call, and to a great extent still do. That was the switch to process the call because historically that was also the switch to which the telephone having that local number was connected. As the original regulated telephone service monopoly to break up and competition began, the idea of number portability became important and popular. A basic form of number portability for people who wanted it is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,604 issued Aug. 17, 1993 to D. Ryan. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996 local telephone service companies are required to provide local telephone number portability where possible.
Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the public switched telephone network (PSTN) has continued to become more open and competitive. Many localities already areas have multiple mobile telephone service providers, multiple long distance service providers and multiple local service providers. For customers to receive the maximum benefit from such competition, true portability of telephone numbers must be provided. Telephone number portability allows the customer to change service providers and/or geographic locations without changing telephone numbers. For commercial enterprises that is important because it means the telephone numbers on the stationary, the business cards, the yellow page advertisements, the fax machine settings and their customers"" heads do not change when the enterprise changes its service provider. This is especially important customer has a if a special number that takes advantage of the letter sub-sets of the alphabet that appear on numbers 2 through 9 of a rotary dial or a push button keypad to spell out some significant sequence. Examples of such numbers for toll free commercial entities are: xe2x80x9c1-800-ABCDEFGxe2x80x9d (also known as xe2x80x9c1-800-222-3334xe2x80x9d) for selling reading and spelling learning aids, or xe2x80x9c1-800-HOLIDAYxe2x80x9d (also known as xe2x80x9c465-4329xe2x80x9d) for Holiday Inn Hotel reservations and information. Holiday Inn Hotel is a trademark of Bass Hotels and Resorts Inc. Non-toll free special numbers either long distance or local are possible also. Such numbers have a goodwill value, which would be lost if the number was not portable when the customer changed service providers.
Because of the costs in customer goodwill, stationary, and personal contacts, many areas have mandated number portability. Number portability means that numbers not normally assigned to a local telephone switch can be transferred to customers of such a local switch. That is why number portability is sometimes referred to as personal numbering. But the very existence of number portability/personal numbering frees telephone numbers and opens the door for enlarged use of telephone numbers.
Briefly stated in accordance with one aspect of the invention, the aforementioned problems are solved and an advance in the number portability art achieved by providing a method for compiling valuable number combinations for commercial, personal and even vanity purposes.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the aforementioned problems are solved and an advance in the art achieved by providing a method for compiling valuable number combinations which includes the steps of: creating a database of valuable combinations; and comparing a numbers not in use database to said database of valuable combinations to create a second database of valuable combinations that are available for assignment.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the aforementioned problems are solved and an advance in the art achieved by providing a method of assigning a telephone number to a user comprising the steps of: creating a database of valuable combinations; comparing numbers not in use to the database of valuable combinations to create a second database of valuable combinations that are available for assignment; entering a keyword into a system for searching the second database; and the system for searching for number that is a character by character match of the keyword, and if a character by character match is found, offering said number to the user. If a character by character match is not available, finding phonic equivalents, synonyms or words associated to the keyword within the context of the keyword and offering the corresponding numbers to the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the aforementioned problems are solved and an advance in the art achieved by providing a system for issuing numbers having some significance. The system includes a telephone switch that has local number portability capability, a signaling network node having a connection to said telephone switch, a local routing number database connected to said signaling network node, an unused number database connected to said signaling network node with valuable telephone numbers identified, and a terminal connected to said telephone switch for user entry of a keyword for which said unused number database will be searched for a match, if a match is found, issuing said match to said user as a telephone number.